Working From Home - The Good, The Bad, and the Not So Ugly

When some people think of working from home, they think of fun! They imagine days full of online shopping, meeting friends for lunch, napping all day, and playing with their new puppy. 

Then there are those who think that working from home is a jail cell. They think of dark days, locked in a room with a ball and chain following them everywhere they go, with the inability to ever escape the warden.

I’ve worked 100% from home for over a decade, and I can tell you that it’s somewhere in between. There’s great freedom in being able to work from home — it gives you a ton of flexibility — but it can also be hard to escape work. If you like what you do, or if you don’t have set hours, you can find yourself working much longer days than you would in an office setting.

For those of you who may be starting a business where you’ll be working from home, I want to give you the skinny so you know what to expect. Here are some of the good things and some of the bad things about working from home.

Flexibility

The first good thing that comes to mind, for me, is the flexibility. When you work from home, you can be much more flexible with your schedule. Need to rearrange your day to go to a doctor’s appointment or got a sick kid? Not a big problem when you work from home, because it’s much easier to start and end your day when it’s convenient for you.

Productivity

Productivity really depends. Working from home can be a help to some and a hindrance to others. Productivity is kind of a wash, because — just like being in an office — it can change from day to day.

One way to increase productivity while working from home, is to come up with a routine. Set a schedule for when you’ll start work and when you’ll stop. If you wing it too much, you could find yourself doing everything but actually working, or working really long hours and never really taking time for yourself.

Loneliness

Working from home can be extremely lonely. As adults, it’s already harder to meet new people and make new friends, so working from home can completely kill your ability to socialize with new people. 

To combat this, you have to find a way to get out a few times a week and interact with other people. That will be a life saver when you’re feeling overwhelmed by work and need to escape from the office (aka home).

You’re Less Active

When you work from home, you end up being less active throughout your workday. There’s no running down to your colleague’s office, or walking down to the coffee break room. You spend much more of your time sitting at your desk, which can be a really bad thing. 

You have to make it a point to get up throughout the day and stretch your legs, take a walk, and stay active. It also becomes much more important to exercise a few times a week.

You Save Money

This might be my favorite reason to work from home. You save a ton of money on car expenses, because you drive less. That means, less gas, less mileage on your car, less wear and tear, and cheaper insurance. 

You also save money on buying clothes and on the actual expense of renting an office space. You can also write off some of your expenses, if they meet certain requirements. I won’t get into that, so talk to your tax professional about that. 

Pro Tip

If you’re tired of full time office life but don’t want to work from home full time, it’s always possible to use coworking spaces for the perfect balance between the two. You could mix it up and work from home a few days a week and then use the coworking space the other days.

Again, that’s really the beauty of having the flexibility of working from home. You do what the hell you want — for the most part.

Overall, I’ve loved working from home. I can’t imagine doing anything else, although I am planning to try a couple of coworking spaces myself. 

So that was the good, the bad, and really there is no ugly of working from home. Everyone’s work from home experience won’t be the same though. For some people it’s great and for others, not so much. 

Before you completely let go of your office, try working from home for a couple of weeks and see how you like it. If you hate it, you still have your office to go back to. 

Do you think you would love working from home full time? Find me on Instagram or Facebook and let me know.

Remember, you can also get a FREE copy of my 66 Days of Bold Action Daily Planner below. You can use it to keep track of your goals and the actions you take to reach them.

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